


An Exceptional New Life

by PattRose



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: AU, Drama, Happy Ending, Humor, M/M, Romance, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2019-12-13
Packaged: 2021-01-15 09:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21251039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PattRose/pseuds/PattRose
Summary: Blair doesn't want to be a cop, but still wants to work with Jim.  It's up to Jim and Simon to figure this out, so that this Sentinel doesn't have to work without his Guide.  Follow the angst, humor and problems to be worked out. What does Blair get in the long run?  An Exceptional New Life





	An Exceptional New Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [snycock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/snycock/gifts).

  


An Exceptional New Life

  


Jim limped, using his cane all the way, into the bullpen. Blair followed him, dreading what Simon was going to offer him as a job. Blair didn’t want to become a cop, it was as simple as that. Simon was sitting in his wheelchair and watched the two men walk up to him. 

“How are you doing, Simon?” Blair asked. 

“I’m doing pretty well. I’ll be out of the wheelchair in no time, you just wait and see.”

Jim just stood by, leaning on the cane and smiled.

Simon cleared his throat and said, “Sandburg, I’m here to offer you a job. Not the job that I had hoped you would take but one that Jim and I could agree on. How do you feel about being a Paid Consultant for Major Crimes and you would work with all of us? And yes, you would work with Jim too, but we all get you for a little while each day. This includes insurance, vacation, paid sick leave and did I mention, pay? What do you think?”

“I think it sounds just perfect. I still get to work with all of you but yet I have a paid position. Yes, I’ll take it. Thank you for the offer.”

Everyone clapped, including Simon and Jim. Then everyone walked up and hugged Blair or at least shook his hand. Blair didn’t think anything could get better. Then Rhonda came wheeling a big cart into the bullpen with a cake and a filled punch bowl surrounded by cups. 

She walked over to Blair and hugged him. “Congratulations, Blair.”

He hugged her back just as hard. “Thank you, everyone. For not only the welcome but the cake and punch. I’m hoping it’s chocolate.”

Everyone laughed. 

Jim leaned into him and whispered, “It is chocolate. I can smell it.”

Blair looked at Jim and asked, “You knew all along and didn’t say anything?”

“That it was chocolate?”

“No, about the job. I never would have guessed this in a million years.”

“Chief, I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. And I’m glad I didn’t. Congratulations.” 

Then Jim whispered, “I’ll show you how proud I am later.”

Blair wiggled his eyebrows and smiled back. 

Everyone began to drink punch and eat the cake. Simon walked over to Blair and said, “I forgot to mention one thing. You start your new job when Jim comes back on duty. So you two can go camping-or whatever you want to do at this time of year.”

“I think I’m going to read up on police procedure so I’m more familiar with it when I start.”

Simon patted him on the back and laughed. “This is why the man was hired.”

Jim leaned against his desk and asked, “Are you sure you don’t want to do something fun?”

Blair smiled. “Jim, reading those papers is fun for me. Maybe not for you, but totally interesting to me. When do you go back to work, anyhow?”

“In two weeks. You have plenty of time to read up before we are on duty. Oh, by the way, Megan asked if she could come by this weekend and see us. I told her to ask you.”

Again, Blair smiled. “It’s fine if she comes over, you nut. I’ll tell her in a moment. Just to visit, right?”

“I have no idea, Chief. Why don’t you go and ask her?”

Blair got up and walked over to Megan Connor’s desk and asked her, “So what’s up for this weekend?”

Megan looked at him and said, “I was hoping I could hit you up for some help in studying for the test for domestic violence that I have to take on Monday.”

“Sure. Come by on Saturday after you get off work. I’ll have dinner made and we’ll study all night,” Blair ordered, sweetly. 

“I’m sure Jim will be thrilled that we keep him up all night.”

“Don’t really care, Megan. I _am_ allowed to have friends. I don’t have to ask Jim’s permission,” Blair said, sounding just a little irritated, but not at Megan. 

“See, now you’re mad at him. I don’t want you mates fighting.”

“We’ll be fine. Just come over for dinner on Saturday after work and then we’ll study. Now, I need to have more punch.”

Megan frowned as Blair walked away from her desk. _What did I fucking miss about this conversation?_

Blair got more punch and sat down next to Jim. Jim could tell that Blair was pissed off at him and he hadn’t done anything yet. _Why do I always seem to cause trouble?_

Blair looked over at Jim chewing his lower lip and asked, “Are you about ready to go?”

“Sure…” Jim got up and put the plates and cups on his desk into the large trash can. Then he started saying goodbye to everyone. Blair followed suit and before long they were in the truck driving home.

* * *

“Do you want to tell me what I did, Chief?”

“Why is it that Megan can’t know about our relationship? Just tell me that,” Blair dared him to answer. 

“You know she has a big mouth and I don’t want to be out at the station. I’m sorry, it’s just how I feel. Would you like to stop for Chinese food on the way home?”

“No thank you. I’m not that hungry. I ate too much cake I guess.”

“Chief, you didn’t even eat half a piece. What’s wrong?”

“I’m mad at you and I have my reasons. When you figure it out, let me know.”

“Well, I’m stopping at the Chinese drive-up and getting something to eat. I’ll buy extra in case you’re hungry later. As you can tell, I’m not mad at you.”

“Hip, hip, hurrah…”

Jim decided to keep his mouth shut before he said something he would be sorry about. Right now he needed to think about their relationship. It wasn’t working for Blair. That was plain to see. 

When he drove up to the Chinese place he ordered two things extra for Blair, knowing that Blair loved both of the dishes. Hopefully, Blair would forgive him and eat something that night.

* * *

Jim ate once he got home and hated eating by himself and he also hated the quiet in the loft. The sound of Blair’s voice was always calming to him. Blair’s voice calmed all of his senses and that in itself was a godsend. Jim decided at that moment that he was going to fix it, no matter what.

Blair grabbed his salad from the night before and sat down opposite Jim and started to eat it. 

“Chief, there’s food on the counter for you, too. Please eat. Don’t be so angry with me that you won’t eat.”

Blair got up and grabbed one of the Chinese dishes for him and opened it up. He started eating, slowly, but he was getting less mad as he ate. 

“Jim, the reason I’m so mad is that Megan needs to study with me on Saturday night and she was afraid that we would keep you awake doing it. And I realized, why can’t she know about us? She would like to know that we’re in love and share the same bed. Instead she thinks you’re going to be mad.”

“Saturday would be a perfect day to tell her. She’ll probably want to hug or something but tell her anyway. I insist. And we’ll tell everyone else before we go back to work or maybe right after we start back to work.”

Blair’s face lit up like a Roman candle. “Do you mean it? I get to tell Megan on Saturday? Wow, that’s only two days away. I can’t wait. She’s going to be so happy for both of us. She worries about us all the time. And you’re right, she’s going to hug you like mad.”

Jim got up and leaned down to raise Blair’s face towards his and they kissed. Not passionately, but with love for each other and that was all that Jim needed right then. He would get more later that night. 

“Jim, thank you for keeping today as a surprise. It was a wonderful surprise. You’ll never know how much I wanted to hug and kiss you this afternoon. But we can’t do that-ever. Work is off limits for kissing and romance.”

“I wonder how this is going to work in the bullpen,” Jim wondered aloud. 

“We'll be working in the bullpen where we're the only gay guys surrounded by straight people. Our coworkers will treat us like we're some sort of exotic gay pets. Simon will ask one of us to recommend a trendy restaurant for him to eat at or Rhonda will ask us to critique her outfit. Or a cop from Vice will ask us what it feels like to get fucked up the ass. And we'll say, ‘You work in Vice. You already know what it feels like.’”

Jim couldn’t stop laughing. Blair was so funny sometimes. And this was exactly what Jim needed. Yes, it would be different for both of them, but life would go on.

“Hey, Jim, what do you call a gay drive by?”

“I have no idea, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”

“A fruit roll up.” Both men start laughing and Jim kissed Blair in between the laughing and breathing. 

“Did you hear about the gay man who was kicked off the golf course?”

“I have no idea,” Jim said, laughing already. 

“He was playing with too many strokes.”

“Okay, enough of the jokes. I say we clean up the kitchen and get ready for bed. I think I promised to show you how proud I was of you,” Jim reminded Blair. 

“Sounds good. I like when you show me your pride with a ride,” Blair said and took off running for the bedroom. 

Instead of cleaning, Jim limped after Blair. He couldn’t wait to get upstairs. Jim hated when they fought and now that they were okay, Jim wanted to make him even more okay. 

They stripped off their clothing so fast that it was unreal. Both men were warm for the other’s form. Jim lay on top of Blair and began to kiss him with much passion. Blair was giving it back just as good. 

“I’m sorry about earlier, Chief. Let’s not fight anymore and instead always kiss and make-up.”

“We can’t make-up if we don’t fight, Jim.”

“Oh, right. You know what I mean. I love making out with you, Blair.”

“Sounds good to me. Now, stop talking and do some other things,” Blair ordered. 

And Jim did just that. 

<

* * *

**Saturday Evening**

“I can’t believe that in less than two weeks we’re going to be working side by side in the bullpen. I’m still in shock about it. How did Simon do this?”

Jim smiled at his love. “Simon would do anything for you, Chief. Everyone in the bullpen was so excited when they heard the news. You’re very popular and also a great asset to Major Crimes. Simon’s no dummy. He took that and went to the Commissioner and how could he say no to Simon? Besides, you saved his nephew that one time, remember?”

“I doubt that he remembers. Jim, I’m so surprised about all of this. I love all of you and can’t wait to work with everyone. Including Joel. Sometimes he might need some help too.”

“That’s why Simon wanted you for the job. He knew you would do your best for everyone and anyone. Are you done reading for tonight?”

“Jim, Megan is going to be here in a few minutes.”

“Oh shit… I sort of had plans for this evening.”

“Didn’t you wonder why I was making lasagna for dinner?”

“Chief, I thought it was for me. Just kidding. I knew she was coming. I’m going to watch the news for a while. You just relax and wait for Megan.”

Blair leaned in and pulled Jim down for a kiss. Blair had no idea that that turned Jim on more than anything he did. It was a very sexy little move and Jim told him as much. 

“When I pull you down for a kiss, it makes you hot for me?”

“Well, yes. I thought you could tell.”

“Jim, you just made my night. Thank you. I love you so much.”

“I love you. Megan’s here.” Jim walked in and turned the TV on very low and started watching the news. 

Blair opened the door and said, “Come on in. You look great, Megan.”

“Thank you. I’ve been studying off and on at my desk in the station all day. So I might be better than I think. I want you to test me on some of the things and tell me if I could pass it. Hello, Jimbo. Good to see you, mate.”

“Hi, Megan. Dinner is almost done. Are you hungry?” Jim asked. 

“I am now. I smell lasagna. Let me help set the table. We’ll do studying after eating and clean-up.”

As Megan and Blair set the table the timer went off and Blair took the lasagna out of the oven to slice and cool down a bit. 

Jim came over and said, “Need any help?”

“We got it, Jim. Thanks, anyhow,” Blair answered. 

“So Megan, how was work today?” Jim asked. 

“It was stupid. That’s how it was. Do you think your doctor could release you to duty sooner than he had planned? Rafe and Brown are driving me nuts. You always seemed to be able to control them. Right now they are like two big dummies.”

Blair and Jim both laughed. “Sorry, Megan. I have to wait for my leg to mend or I’ll be out even longer the next time.”

“Joel is doing his best as acting Captain, but those dummies are driving everyone insane. When is Simon coming back?”

“In two weeks,” Blair answered. 

“Well, fuck…” Megan sat down and looked like she was going to cry. 

“Maybe I could stop by and just tell the boys to grow up. Would that help?” Jim asked. 

“That would help a great deal, Jimbo. Thank you so much.”

“Enough work talk. Dinner is served.” Blair put everything on the table and then got each of them a glass of wine. 

“I’d better not drink anything. I’m driving,” Megan reminded Blair. 

“No, you’ll stay in our spare room. Right, Jim?”

Megan let out a squeal and hugged both of them while they were sitting at the table. “Finally, you two have seen the light.”

“We’re a little slow,” Jim admitted. 

“Sandy, I’m so excited for you. You expect me to study when you tell me this? I want to hear all about it.”

Jim looked horrified, making both Blair and Megan laugh their heads off. 

“Okay, Jimbo. We’ll study tonight. And since I get to sleep over, I’m going to have lots of wine.”

The three of them ate, talked and laughed about anything and everything. When dinner was done, they cleaned up and all sat in the living room with their wine. 

Jim went into the office and got the room ready for company while Blair asked Megan a lot of questions and Megan got all of the answers right. Blair told her she was ready. 

At ten, they all got ready for bed. Jim brought down a tee shirt for Megan to sleep in and said goodnight to both of them. Not before he kissed Blair with some tongue. 

Megan giggled. She didn’t mean to, but they were just too cute. 

“Night, Megan,” Blair said, as he climbed the stairs. 

“Have too much fun you two,” she called out as she closed the bedroom door. 

Blair slipped into bed and heard Jim’s soft snores already. So much for fun. It was still a perfect night.

* * *

**Two Weeks Later**

It was Blair’s second day back and he was in heaven. So was everyone else. Jim was doing very well without a cane and Simon was back in his office again, without a wheelchair. Both men were just like new. 

Jim and Megan were in records getting some files they needed while upstairs they had no idea of what was happening. A man walked into the bullpen and seemed very angry. He asked for Jim Ellison and Blair told him that he would have to take a seat and wait. The man didn’t like that answer, pulled out a gun and shot Blair in the upper shoulder. Simon was just coming out of the office and pulled his gun, and just as he fired the man moved. What Simon had meant as a disabling shot to the arm turned into a killing one, with the bullet hitting the man’s heart. _What was this man thinking, walking into a police station with a loaded gun and actually using it?_

An ambulance was called right away. They came as quickly as they could. Blair was getting up off the floor and Simon was trying to get him to lie back down. 

“Simon, he barely clipped me on my upper shoulder. The bullet is probably stuck in a wall somewhere right now. I just need a band aid.”

Simon still fussed. “Sit down at least until the paramedics come and tell me you’re fine. Here comes Jim. Someone slow him down. I don’t want him accidentally hurting Sandburg any more than he is.”

Rafe stood up and stopped Jim. “Jim, he’s good. The bullet barely grazed him and he’s just waiting for paramedics to give him a band aid.”

“Are you sure, Chief? I could take you to the hospital right now.”

“Jim, come and look at the wound. Tell me it only needs a band aid.”

Jim did just that and wanted to hug Blair in the worst way, but knew this wasn’t the time or place. Jim glanced at the wound and saw the bullet barely hit him. Blair wouldn’t even need stitches.

“Simon, he’s good. He’s right. How did the gunman miss so badly?”

“Jim, are you complaining that he didn’t wound your partner more than he did?” Simon asked. 

“No, not at all. I’m very grateful and Blair isn’t my partner at work,” Jim said. 

“But he is at home?”

“Well, this isn’t the way I wanted to tell all of you, but there it is. We’ve fallen in love and are an item now.”

Simon got closer to Jim and whispered, “Give him a hug.”

“Simon, we don’t hug at work. It’s off limits. We would never live it down.” Jim went back over and asked Blair if he needed some water. 

“No, I need a hug. Megan, give me a hug.”

Megan knocked Jim out of the way and gave Blair a very careful hug. She didn’t want to hurt him any worse than he was. 

The paramedics walked in and saw there was nothing to do for the dead man and then went to work on Blair. They took his shirt off and Rafe and Brown whistled making Jim glare at them. They stopped as soon as they started. The paramedics cleaned Blair up, put a big band aid on the injury and said he was as good as new. 

Joel had gone through the man’s wallet and found out why he was after Jim for an understandable reason. Jim had put his son away six weeks earlier and his son was killed in prison. The man’s son was a drug dealer and deserved to be in jail. But evidently the father felt differently. 

Everyone had to fill out an incident report and they were all working on them as the dead man was taken out of the bullpen. 

IA came down to see if there was excessive force used in anyone’s opinion. By the time they were done taking everyone’s report they knew it was an accidental killing.

* * *

**A Week Later**

For the last week, Jim and Joel had been trying to figure out what happened to a nice looking young woman with no id. There was nothing in the finger print data base and finally Jim went to Blair and asked him to help them try and figure out who she was. Once they could do that, they might be able to figure out where she came from and who knew her. All of that would help with some leads to her killer. 

“Chief, do you have time to look over a case Joel and I are stuck on?”

Blair was instantly interested, not to mention excited about helping his best friend. “Sure, I’ll follow you over to Joel’s office.”

Joel greeted Blair with gusto. “Blair, it’s so good to see you and I sure hope you can help Jim and me figure this out. We’ve been working on it for seven days and not one thing has turned up.” 

“Hello, Joel. I’m glad to help. Where is the file?” Blair asked. 

Joel handed it to Blair and Blair got his first look at Jane Doe. She was about 21 years old, long, wavy brown hair, chocolate colored eyes and dimples. Blair could tell she had been beautiful at one time. He saw that they ran fingerprints and got nothing. They put her in the missing person’s data base and nothing again. They tried facial recognition programs and still nothing. No one seemed to know who she was or where she came from. Blair put the file down and said, “It seems you’ve done almost everything you should have. But now we’ll talk about her for a little while and see if something doesn’t come to mind for one of us.”

“Like what, Chief?”

“Like checking the colleges, big or small, in town? Did you take her picture and see if anyone recognized her? You could start with the deans, then the teachers and finally the students. She’s the perfect age for college. My next idea would be to check all dating services. You know what I mean. The online dating services. Check with all the places in town and see if they have her in their records.”

Joel just stared at Blair for a second and said, “We never thought to do either of these things. Jim, I think we’re losing our edge.”

“I agree, Joel. What were we thinking of? I guess nothing.”

“Would you like to go with us, Blair?” Joel asked. 

“To the colleges? I think we could make a list of places to go and have Rafe and Brown ask too. Save a little time that way.” 

“Let me make the list up and we’ll send Rafe and Brown to half of them,” Jim said, as he started to make the lists. Once he had Rainier and three other colleges listed, he decided he would give two to Rafe and Brown and they would take the others. Jim made a copy of Jane Doe’s picture for the other guys and off they went to see if they could find her. 

Rafe and Brown were only too happy to look for this girl. They had nothing to do and Simon was grouchy so they wanted to get away from him.

* * *

When Jim, Blair and Joel arrived at Rainier they stopped at the dean’s office to see if he knew anything about Jane Doe. It didn’t work, so the next thing they did was go to the faculty lounge and show the picture to some of the teachers. It didn’t pan out either. Then they started stopping students all over the campus and asking them if they knew her. None of that worked either. The three of them finally went to the car, disappointed, but knew she wasn’t from Rainier. 

Once in the car, Joel said, “Why don’t we try the dating site first before the other art college? I think maybe it might be a better idea.”

Jim said, “Sounds good to me. Let’s go to the first one on the list and see what they can tell us.”

Jim drove, even though it was Joel’s car, to the first place and the three of them piled out and walked into the office. Joel showed his badge and asked to see the owner. 

The woman at the front desk named Sylvia, asked them to sit until the owner had a moment. Jim was listening to make sure that no one made a run for it, but the owner was just on the phone with her husband and once she hung up she opened her door and asked for Joel. 

All three men stood up and she was a little taken back. Jim showed his badge and then Blair showed his id. She took them all into her office and said, “Now what can I do for you?”

Jim handed the picture to her and instantly saw the look of loss on her face. “Do you know this woman?”

“Yes, she’s one of our clients. She’s so sweet and new in town. She didn’t know anyone so she came to meet people this way. What happened to her?”

Joel decided to take this one. “She was strangled almost a week ago and she had no id and we get nothing from her fingerprints. What is her name?”

“Beverly Morrison. She only went on one date so far. Let me get the man’s name, address and phone number for you. She had an out of state license. That might help in finding her family.”

The first thing she did was print up a picture of Beverly’s license for the men. Then she printed up all her information to help the men find her family. Sylvia then went to work finding the info the men needed of the date and printed it out along with his picture. Jim and Joel knew that Sylvia was in shock. 

Blair accepted the information that Sylvia gave them and they thanked her and left for the day. 

They walked towards the car and Jim said, “Fuck it.” And just like that, he hugged Blair on the street. “Thank you, Chief for showing us how to do our job.”

“I was just a fresh set of eyes. Now we have to find Mike Mason. I might stay back on this one. I bet he won’t give up without a huge fight. I’m not armed. I know I said I didn’t want to be, but there are going to be times where I’m best for the searching part and not the actual finding part.”

They went to Mike Mason’s job first and he was there. He didn’t put up a fight at all. Joel felt it was anticlimactic. Joel read him his rights and they put him in the back seat with Blair. Once Mason was in the back seat, Joel threw his car keys over to Jim. Whenever they took Joel’s car, Jim always drove. Joel knew that it was a control issue with Jim. 

They took Mike Mason to the station house and booked him for murder. He didn’t confess but he didn’t argue about it either. Joel took over with fingerprinting and charging the man with murder. 

Jim and Blair walked upstairs and Jim said, “Thank you, Chief. Sometimes I rely on my senses too much and don’t use plain old fashioned police work. I’m sorry she had to go for so long as a Jane Doe.”

“It’s all good, Jim. We figured it out together. And it was Joel that chose the place to go just now. It was a game of chance and for a change we won. Thank you for asking for my help.”

“And thank you for giving it to us, Blair. You’re very good at your job.”

Blair beamed with happiness at Jim’s compliment. Today was a very good day.

* * *

As Jim and Blair drove home that night Jim said, “I never wanted to kiss you as badly as I did today. I know I can’t. Work has to be a safe area, but I want you to know that I think of us as a couple all the time.”

Blair just grinned at Jim. “Babe, it’s not a big deal if anyone sees us anyhow. We’re already out. But I know what you mean about keeping a safe zone for us. Has anyone said anything to you about being gay?”

“Yeah, some guys from homicide were giving me a hard time in records the other day. I thought Megan was going to take them out. She’s a bear when she’s mad, let me tell you. But I told her, we are gay, what are we going to argue with them about? And she finally calmed down.”

“You can handle it, right? Because if you can’t, we’ll do something else.”

“As long as we have each other, that’s all that matters. Job comes second in my book. We can handle anything that comes our way, Chief. 

“Jim, you know we’ll always have each other.”

The end

Best Wishes from your Secret Santa and your Mod.


End file.
